Dei Dream II
by Emilieve
Summary: Sequel to Dei Dream Deidara and Emika now get along annoyingly well, and Emika finally gets to go on a mission with Deidara and Tobi. DeidaraxOC Triggers: character death, sexual assault
1. UPDATE

So, I recently found my old notebook for this story and the sequels, and I got inspired to:

-Do a full rewrite

-Post the rest of the sequel (this)

-Finally finish writing the Treequel (that's not a typo, that's the title)

-Post the Treequel

Sometime in the near future, I'll be reuploading the first story. I'm planning on just replacing the files for each chapter with the new versions, so this version will only exist on my computer. The new version will be more serious, less OOC, and generally better-written than this version.


	2. Mission?

**Yeah, so Part II! If you haven't read part I, please do so. Personally, I think this story is better when you get to the actual plot than the first one was, but some stuff in here won't make sense unless you read it.**

**Part II is actually complete, just not all typed up yet, so keep watching!**

**And there's even gonna be a Part III, called "The Treequel" punny, eh? =3 so without further ado:**

**////////////**

I stood alone in a clearing, facing a tree. I held my right arm straight up, pointing my flaming index finger up at the sky. I swung my arm forward and down, forming an arc of flame in the air.

Once my arm reached its downward position, the arc became separated from my finger. I grabbed this lower end and lashed my arm back so the fiery rope swung behind me.

Focused on the tree, I whipped my arm around, my flame-whip stretching out as it wrapped around the trunk of the tree with a snap.

The end of the whip securely wrapped around the tree, I yanked my arm back, the whip burning straight through the tree trunk. The whip returned to me, and as I watched, the tree began to lean toward me slowly. Thinking fast, I leapt high into the air, hovering in a way that the top of the tree passed mere inches from my feet as it crashed to the forest floor. Leaves rustled from the gust of air the fall had produced, then rustled more violently from another, more intense gust behind me.

I twisted around in midair to face the source of the wind. I found myself looking down at a huge white bird landing on the ground below. Standing on top of it, wearing a black cloak with red clouds that matched the one I was wearing, was a blond man with a half-ponytail and seriously long bangs. He spoke.

"So that's your newest technique, _hmmm_?" Deidara smiled up at me.

"Dei-Dei-kun!" I exclaimed, diving down quickly to glomp him.

He stumbled back a few steps from the force of my "attack", then simply fell, sitting down hard and pulling me down with him.

He looked at me, a bit of surprise on his face, then we both started laughing. When we were done, I spoke.

"You're back!" I did not attempt to hide my happiness as I grinned.

"Yeah, another successful mission, _hmmm_!" He grinned back at me.

A thought came to me.

"Hey, why don't I ever get to go on missions? I'm a part of yours and Tobi's team, so why do I always stay at the base?" I pouted.

He shrugged.

"Leader-sama's orders, _hmmm_. You're supposed to be Akatsuki's secret weapon or something, so you can't be going show yourself to everyone, _hmmm_."

"But WHYYYYYY? All I get to do is beat up trees while you actually do something that helps the organization!" I whined and pouted some more, being overly dramatic.

"I know, Emika, but I can't do anything about that, _hmmm_. Leader-sama said-"

"I don't care what Leader-sama said! You're always away on missions, and I'm always left behind..." I trailed off.

"...I guess I can talk to Leader-sama about letting you come on one of the missions, _hmmm_..."

"Thank you!" I shrieked and hugged him again.

"Shouldn't we be getting back to base, _hmmm_? It's getting dark and missions are tiring, _hmmm_."

He did look tired. "Okay."

With that, and a large flap of the bird's wings, we took off toward the base. I attempted to strike up a new conversation.

"I'm guessing Tobi's back too?"

"Tch! Why do you even like that hyperactive loser anyway, _hmmm_?" He scowled.

"Hey, Tobi's my best friend! Don't make fun of him or I'll cap yo a**! I punched him playfully on the arm, laughing.

He faked mild fear at my threat, then laughed along with me.

"But still, **Tobi**, _hmmm_? Why'd you pick him as your best friend here, _hmmm_?" I sensed a strange feeling coming from hm as he waited for my answer.

"Well, he's the most fun person in Akatsuki! Everyone else here is so serious, I need some comic relief! That's something else I miss when you two are away on missions!" I said brightly.

I felt him stiffen beside me. I finally identified the feeling that was emanating from him.

"Deidara...could you be..._jealous_?"

"No, _hmmm_! Of course not, _hmmm_!" His denial was too obvious, I had to laugh.

"I don't like him like that, silly Dei-Dei-kun!" I hugged him to reassure him. "I don't love him; I love you."

He hugged me back. "I love you, too, _hmmm_."

We continued to fly on in silence. A while later, he broke it.

"I don't want you to come on missions, _hmmm_." He held me tighter.

"Why shouldn't I go?"

He paused before answering.

"...It's life and death out there for us Akatsuki members, _hmmm_. I don't want you in danger, _hmmm_."

I pulled away from him so I could look him in the eye.

"I didn't become a ninja so I could kill trees! I was fully prepared that it was kill or be killed when I joined Akatsuki!"

"Yeah, prepared to kill me, _hmmm_..." he mumbled.

I gave him a good, hard shove and faced forward, wind whooshing past my face. He righted hiself as I spoke, trying to conceal the hurt from sounding in my voice.

"That just proves that I'm serious in life or death situations! I'm fully capable of going on a mission!" My voice was slightly raised.

"Fine, I'll talk to Leader-sama, but I'm not happy about it, _hmmm_!" He huffed and crossed his arms; I had won this battle.

I felt a bit smug as we landed, finally at the base. We dismounted the bird, which shrank, flew into the air, and exploded as Deidara formed a hand sign and muttered "Art is a bang."

We entered the base in silence. We walked down the right hallway, as usual. We both walked into our room. The room was as sparse as it had been when I had first joined Akatsuki, but the furniture had been doubled. The room now contained two beds, pushed against opposite walls, and two dressers, near each other at the back wall.

I walked over to my bed, the one against the right wall, sitting down heavily after removing my cloak.

Deidara lingered in the doorway, watching me. I pulled off one of my shoes and hurled it in his direction, jokingly screaming, "Pervert!"

X.W Unintentionally, my shoe struck his head, knocking him over. He sat on the floor, shaking his head to clear it as my shoe landed next to him. I leapt up from my bed.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" I rushed over to him, ignoring the faint "Jashin!" I heard from somewhere in the base. I lowered myself to the floor next to Deidara, then gingerly fingered the bump forming on his forehead. He flinched.

"Did you have to throw it so hard, _hmmm_?" He chuckled.

"I didn't think I'd actually hit you! I'm sorry, but I thought you'd have the sense to dodge or duck or _something_!" I laughed, too, in spite of myself.

He stood up, then pulled me up as well, both of us still laughing.

"Please don't do that again, _hmmm_." He sighed in mock exasperation.

"But you don't deny you were checking me out?" I smirked at him.

"...Um...well..._hmmm_..." He shifted his eyes away from mine, uncomfortable.

"There's all the proof I need!" I laughed.

"..._hmmm_!" He huffed, but did not argue the point. I was winning all the battles today.

I scooped up my shoe and tossed it against my dresser as I walked back to my bed and sat down, taking off my other shoe and tossing it toward the other.

Deidara lingered in the doorway as I removed my katana from my waist, preparing to go to sleep.

"I'll go talk to Leader-sama about a mission then, _hmmm_" He disappeared into the hall.

I walked over to the doorway and peered down the hall, but he was already turning the corner. I closed the door and turned off the light, walking back to my bed in the dark. I crawled underneath the blankets, pulling them up to my chin and lying on my side, facing away from the wall.

I closed my eyes and relaxed, briefly relishing in the thought of going on a mission. I began to drift off and was barely conscious when Deidara returned to the room. He closed the door behind him after entering, a sliver of light escaping from under the door, his feet silhouetted against it. Then none of him was visible as he stepped away from the door.

"Deidara? How'd it go?"

He did not respond.

"Deidara?"

I could not see him nor hear him, the light from under the door not enough to see.

Suddenly I could feel him next to my bed. Before I could react, he pulled back my blankets and climbed into the bed, putting his arms around me.

"D-Deidara?! What are you doing?!" I asked frantically, blushing deeply.

"...Leader-sama says you can come on the next mission, _hmmm_..."

"Um...good, but that doesn't really answer my question..." I was extremely confused.

"Our target is Sasuke Uchiha, Itachi's little brother, _hmmm_," he continued, still avoiding my question.

"Good, I hate him."

His arms tightened around me protectively.

"Please, promise me you'll let me do the fighting, _hmmm_. He's too dangerous, _hmmm_."

I was taken aback, shocked by his seriousness. When I was silent, he continued.

"If you can't promise me that, I'll make sure Tobi stops you from fighting, by whatever means necessary, while I fight Sasuke, _hmmm_."

"Why is he any less dangerous to you?" I whispered. "You could get hurt, too."

"I'd rather be hurt than see you get hurt, or killed, _hmmm_." His reply was so sincere.

"...You think you could actually be killed?"

"It's a possibility, yes, _hmmm_..."

The thought of Deidara dying filled me with despair, but I put on a lighthearted front so as not to worry him.

"No, not a chance!" I gave a halfhearted laugh.

He heard the doubt in my voice.

"If you promise to stay out of the fight, I promise I won't die, do we have a deal, _hmmm_?"

"I can live with that.'

"Thank you, Emika, _hmmm_. Good night, _hmmm_."

"Good night." I realized something. "Um...Deidara, shouldn't you sleep in your own bed?"

He appeared to have fallen asleep before hearing my question. I knew better, just barely seeing a smirk pull at the corners of his lips in the dark. I wasn't about to squirm out of this situation, though.

I relaxed, eventually falling asleep in Deidara's arms.


	3. Tobi is a blabbermouth

**I have nothing much to say about this chapter except that I got the idea for Leader-sama's obsession from a video on Youtube... abd I thought it would be funny. I now find it impossible to read a Naruto Shippuden scene with Pain in it and not picture him eating [secret obsession]... XD**

**oh and I used to like Tobi when he acted like an idiot but I knew he was evil inside, but now that he only acts evil (in the manga) I don't really like him, so that is going to be shown through Emika, my alter ego...**

**///////////**

The next morning we had a very rude awakening, courtesy of Tobi, who had bounded into the room, shouting:

"Deidara-sempai and Emika-chan! Good mor-"

He stopped short when he saw Deidara in my bed with his arms around me. Now awake, we stared at Tobi, stunned.

"What are Deidara-sempai and Emika-chan doing?" He contemplated the situation for a moment.

"Group hug!" He leapt onto the bed, knocking the wind out of me as he landed on top of us.

A second later he was no longer on top of me but flying across the room into the wall, Deidara's fist in post-punch position as he sat up on my bed.

I then punched Deidara off the bed and onto the floor. He righted himself and looked up at me from the floor, puzzled.

"What was that for, _hmmm_?"

"I told you what I would do to you if you were mean to Tobi!" I glared down at him from where I sat on the bed.

"What, cappin' my a$$, _hmmm_? You were serious about that, _hmmm_?!"

"Darn right I was serious!"

Tobi, who up to this point had been watching this unfold from where he sat against the wall, spoke up.

"Emika-chan shouldn't be angry at Deidara-sempai! He has almost killed Tobi before!"

I turned back to Deidara, glaring at him again. Before I could tell him off, he reached up and cupped my chin in his hand, pulling me down gently and kissing me. I broke away, still a little miffed.

"What did you hope to accomplish with that?!" Another glare.

"I was hoping to distract you from your rage, _hmmm_..." He seemed disappointed, then pulled me in for another kiss before I could get back to cappin' his a$$. This time I did not pull away immediately.

"Consider me distracted..." He grinned triumphantly as I sighed in defeat.

"Deidara-sempai and Emika-chan sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Tobi sang as he got up and skipped away.

I stared after him, weirded out. Once I was past the weirdness, I laughed. "That's Tobi for you!" I said between laughs.

"How can you like that, _hmmm_?" He gestured toward where Tobi had been a moment before.

"You have to admit that was funny! He could've jumped to a much worse conclusion than that we were just hugging!"

"Yeah, you're right about that, but that wasn't funny, _hmmm_! Tobi's just annoying, _hmmm_..."

"How was that not funny to you? He's so naïve, it's actually kind of cute..."

Deidara continued to sit on the floor, now steaming.

"Not like that!" I hit him in the head with my pillow, trying to lighten the mood.

He looked taken aback, then stood up and walked over to his bed, picking up his pillow and walking back with an evil smirk on his face. He swung his pillow at my head. I ducked under it and thwomped him in the stomach with mine. He doubled over, laughing, then swung at me again, this time making contact. I toppled over on the bed, clutching my stomach as I curled up against the continued attack.

"You win, you win!" I giggled out. "I recognize your pillow-fighting skills as superior to my own!"

The blows stopped, then Deidara sat down on the bed, grinning at me as I sat up. He put his arm around my shoulders. Something wet touched the side of my neck. I shrieked in surprise and scrunched up my shoulders as I jumped away.

"WTF, man? Did your hand just lick me?" His evil smile told me yes.

"...Why?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Just messing with you, _hmmm_." He smirked.

I gave him another one of my signature evil death glares, while he continued smirking.

Death glare, smirk, death glare, smirk. We continued in this manner until he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Death glare.

"It really did mess with you, _hmmm_!" He laughed again.

"I find no humor in you licking me to see my reaction..." Slightly less deadly death glare.

"Fine, I won't do it again, _hmmm_..." He seem depressed.

"You better not!" My stomach growled randomly. "Can we please go eat breakfast now?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure, _hmmm_..." He scowled.

"What's wrong now?" I asked exasperatedly.

"You're angry at me again, _hmmm_..." He scowled again.

"You licked me, and you expect me to be okay with that?"

"I guess, _hmmm_..."

"Fine, I'll forgive you if you never do it again!"

"I already agreed to that, _hmmm_..."

"Okay, okay, can we just drop it?"

"..._hmmm_..."

"Okay then, to breakfast!"

Deidara got up grudgingly and we walked toward the door, which Tobi had left open, and turned left, heading down the hall toward the kitchen. As we passed into the living room, I saw Hidan sitting on the couch, stabbing himself for his stupid Jashin.

"Hey, Hidan, stop bleeding all over the couch!"

"Who's gonna stop me, B----? F--- off!" He shot me his own version of the death glare, then shot a knowing look between Deidara and me. "Oh, wait, you've already f---ed **him**!" With that, he turned away to resume his stabbing.

Without missing a beat, I formed a fireball and flung it at the back of his head, causing his hair to burst into flame. More upset about the ruining of his hair and less about the pain, he let loose a string of curses as he jumped up and tried to put out the flames. Eventually successful, he turned to me, fuming.

"I kill you, b----!" He shouted, brandishing his scythe at me, hair smoldering.

I dashed into the kitchen, dragging an unreadable Deidara with me and locking the door behind us and leaning against it.

"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" I laughed nervously as Hidan continued to shout colorfully from the other side of the door.

Deidara stood beside me, silent.

"What?" I could feel the hostility emanating off him and I cringed away.

"…So much for Tobi's naïve conclusion, _hmmm_…" He crossed his arms and stared ahead.

"Oh, that…" Was Tobi really dumb enough to tell everyone?

"There might be trouble with Leader-sama, _hmmm_."

"Is Leader-sama strict about **that**? He shouldn't be, because he and Konan are together…"

"We'll have to wait and see, _hmmm_. Konan's the only other girl that's ever been in Akatsuki, so it was never really brought up, _hmmm_…"

"I know one way to find him and get this over with." I walked to the pantry.

Deidara looked at me quizzically.

"Pancakes, of course!" I broke out the dry ingredients and grabbed the cold from the fridge, setting it all on the counter and putting a pan to heat on the stove.

"Chocolate chips, _hmmm_?" He asked hopefully.

"As always!" I held up the bag as I began with the dry ingredients.

"Yeah, _hmmm_!" His cheerful look was replaced with a scowl. "There's one more thing we need to discuss, _hmmm_. You need to stop provoking Hidan, _hmmm_."

I almost dropped the egg I was holding as I flinched. Great, I had hoped he'd overlook that little issue. Like that would really happen…

"Aaaw, but he deserved it! You saw what he was doing, what he said to me!"

"And next time he might actually get an attack in, and then what will happen, _hmmm_? You can't dodge him forever, _hmmm_."

What he said was true, but I wasn't going to admit it, so I did the mature thing and ignored him. I kept my back to him as I poured the batter into the pan and got out the spatula. We were both silent as I added the chocolate chips, then flipped the pancakes. When they were done, I spatula'd them out onto a plate, then started on the next batch.

I waved the plateful of pancakes in front of Deidara's face, and he snatched it out of my hands. He got the syrup from the pantry and three forks from the drawer and sat down at the table.

"Leader-sama's pancake senses should be tingling right about now," I commented.

Sure enough, as soon as I finished the second batch and started on the third, Hidan's shouting was replaced by mumbled curses and Leader-sama's voice as he pounded on the kitchen door, demanding, "Emika, unlock the door and give me some pancakes! I know they're in there!"

I rolled my eyes as if to say "I knew it" as I walked over to the door, the second plate of pancakes in my hands. As soon as the door opened, Leader-sama's hands darted out and grabbed the plate. He sat down at the table as I returned to the stove.

"Emika, hurry up with that, will you? I want these pancakes and we need to talk."

Great, Tobi did blab to everyone… I finished cooking and sat down with my plate, next to Deidara.

"Itadakimasu!" We said in unison, each grabbing a fork and drowning our pancakes in syrup before digging in.

"Deidara, Emika…" Leader-sama said between bites. Great, here it comes… "Congratulations!" WTF?!? What is he talking about? "Konan and I figured it was only a matter of time for you two, what with being in the same room and everything."

Deidara and I exchanged dumbfounded looks and returned our gaze to Leader-sama, our mouths full of pancake. I swallowed my mouthful and attempted to explain.

"But…we...haven't done…**that**…" I blushed. This was way too embarrassing for this early in the morning.

"Oh, don't bother denying it, everyone knows, so there's no point in trying to cover it up."

"But-" Leader-sama cut me off.

"I won't hear any more of this denial… Have fun, you two!" He got up, somehow having finished his pancakes while we were having that very one-sided conversation. He paused by the door, turning to speak to me.

"Good job on the pancakes, Emika, I knew we kept you around for something." With a wink he left the room.

"You mean other than as that f---er Deidara's whore?"


	4. Ouch!

**Herro, dear readers! um, yeah... pancakes =3 I secretly love Hidan, so that's why I make Emika hate him... because i pretend to ;) but seriously, she hates him... lol Hidan...**

**okay, so guys, review plz? i want some feedback!**

**/////////////**

"SHUT UP!" I stood up, ready to attack Hidan again, but Deidara grabbed my arm and pulled me back down into my chair.

"Save it for missions, _hmmm_."

"Speaking of which, when are we leaving?"

"Tonight, _hmmm_. We'll camp out so we'll be ready to ambush Sasuke tomorrow, _hmmm_." Our pancakes gone, he carried our plates to the sink and began washing them.

"And lucky me gets to sit out..."

"Better safe than sorry, _hmmm_."

"And I suppose that doesn't apply to you...?"

"Ha! Nope, this is my fight, _hmmm_. However much you dislike Sasuke, I hate him more, _hmmm_. I loathe all Uchiha, _hmmm_."

"I respect that, but can't I even back you up?"

"I hate to admit it, but Tobi knows what to do better than you do, _hmmm_. He's done this before, _hmmm_."

"Sitting out sucks."

"There'll be other fights for you, just be patient, _hmmm_." He finished with the dishes, dried his hands, and walked over to me.

"Let's go, _hmmm_."

"Fine." I obliged, but I made a big show of getting up, yanking the door open and stomping out, my nose in the air.

...and I stomped right into a livid Hidan. I leapt back, almost knocking Deidara back into the kitchen. Hidan's face grew even more twisted than normal, and his hands tightened around his scythe.

"Die, b----!" He swung his scythe with deadly force.

I spun around, **trying** to push Deidara into the kitchen this time. The momentum wasn't enough to carry me out of the way in time. The top blade sliced across the middle of my back, painting a line of blinding pain where it passed. I cried out and crashed into Deidara, who supported me as he formed a clay bird and sent it to explode in Hidan's face. Deidara swept my legs out from under me and ran past a profusely cursing, blinded Hidan, down the hall, and into Leader-sama's room. I gritted my teeth and screwed my eyes shut against the pain that spiked with every motion.

"I'll get Kakuzu." I heard Konan say as she rushed past.

"What happened? Put her down!" Leader-sama ordered.

I was placed facedown on the bed, quickly soaking it with blood.

"Hidan attacked her, and her luck finally ran out, _hmmm_."

"Shut...up..." I mangaged to get past my teeth.

"I've got him." Konan returned with Kakuzu in tow.

"Kakuzu, stitches, NOW!" Leader-sama commanded.

After a pause, I felt a tugging at the sides of my wound as Kakuzu pulled them together with his body threads. I grabbed fistfuls of blankets to try to keep from crying out, and Deidara's hand closed arond mine. I grabbed that instead, crushing it in my grip. One last tug, and Kakuzu was finished, leaving a dull ache in that area. I exhaled with relief, realizing I had been holding my breath.

I gave a start when Kakuzu prodded my arm.

"Pay up."

"Go be miserly somewhere else, Kakuzu." With that, Leader-sama banished him.

With the side of my face pressed against the bed, I grimaced up at Deidara, who had an expression that was a combination of concern and amusement. He smirked slightly as he began:

"I hate to say I told you so-" I cut him off.

"'-because if I say it, I'll wake up with my hair on fire, _hmmm_.' is what you were going to say, right?" I sent a death glare up at him. He flinched, but helped me ease myself up off the bed.

"Sorry about your bed..." I addressed a slightly amused Leader-sama and Konan.

"Don't mind that, do you think you'll be alright?" Konan asked.

"I hope so..." I made a face that made them chuckle.

"Good, now go rest up a bit before you leave for the mission." Leader-sama's suggestion caught Deidara's attention. He pulled me be the hand and wrapped me against him.

"Oh no, she is definitely not going on the mission in this state, _hmmm_."

"And why on earth not? Don't talk like I'm not here," I said brusquely, looking up at him.

"Do you not notice the fact that you are severely injured, _hmmm_"

"Your point? You lost an arm to Gaara without so much as a flinch, and you still managed to capture him. Are you implying that I'm not strong enough to watch from the sidelines?"

Deidara squirmed at this accusation. "That's not what I'm trying to say, but I still don't want you out there, _hmmm_."

"I'll just follow you if you leave without me."

"Oh no you will not, _hmmm_."

"Oh, but what if dear old Hidan were to visit me in my weakened state? Without you there to stop him, like you were this time, he might get a chance to finish what he started." He blanched.

"You're coming on the mission, _hmmm_."

"Well, with that said, why don't you two get cleaned up?" Leader-sama waved us out. "I'll be sure to discuss what happened with Hidan. Attempting to kill fellow Akatsuki for no adequate reason is not acceptable."

Still holding hands, Deidara and I walked back down the hall, retracing my trail of blood. In an unspoken agreement, I would take my shower first. I walked straight to my dresser and pulled out a change of clothes carefully, so as not to get blood on them. Holding them away from me, I walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind me. I gingerly peeled off my shirt, wincing as I pulled it over my head and my stitches pulled at my skin. My pants were easier, but bending my torso was an ordeal. Finally, clothes in the trash, I stepped into the shower, the hot water running red down the drain. As I washed my hair, something didn't feel quite right. Wasn't my hair supposed to be longer than this?

With a sinking feeling, I finished my shower and dried off, resulting in a red-and-white towel. I bandaged myself as best as I could, then began to pull on my clothes. I lit my hands and began to dry my hair. Okay, it definitely felt shorter.

As I dried my hair, the condensation on the mirror began to clear. Once it was clear, I spun on the spot and looked over my shoulder into the mirror. "GYAAAH!"

A moment later the door burst open. "What happened, _hmmm_?" Deidara looked around for the source of my distress. I turned so my back was to him.

"Look what that b------ did to my hair!" The ends of my hair now slanted down from right to left, with one long lock spared to the far right. "He butchered it!"

"Calm down, Emika, it's just your hair, _hmmm_..."

"**Just** my hair?! Do you not realize I invented three jutsu for it?"

"Can you say 'hair complex'. _hmmm_?" Deidara smirked at me.

"You weren't too happy when I threatened to burn **your** hair!" I smirked right back at him.

"Yeah, well that was... about the burning part, _hmmm_..."

"Sure it was..." I rolled my eyes. "I'm going to try to fix this..." I breezed past him into our room.

"Yeah, I'm just gonna take my shower, _hmmm_..." He scooped his clothes off his bed, went back into the bathrom and closed the door.

I got a kunai out of the top drawer of my dresser, then sat down on my bed. I evened my hair up, the clippings falling onto the bed. Instead of ending past my waist, my hair stopped between my shoulder and elbow, about the same length as Deidara's. So much for uber-long hair...

Deidara came back out of the bathroom, hair dripping.

"Voila!"

"How on earth do we know French if this is written in English and based off a Japanese comic, _hmmm_?"

"... Shut up and look."

He looked me up and down, then grinned.

"That length looks almost as good on you as it does on me, _hmmm_."

"Nyah!" I stuck my tongue out at him and pulled down my lower eyelid.

"Oh, so that's how it is, _hmmm_? Well, nyah, _hmmm_!" He stuck three of his tongues out at me.

"I admit defeat..." I held my hands up in surrender. "Now, shouldn't we be packing?" I got my Akatsuki-patterned rucksack out of the drawer where I got my kunai. Deidara got his out of his respective drawer.

We each packed a change of clothes, a medic kit, and our bedroll. Deidara packed his clay, and I packed the sketchbook Deidara had given to me as part of my birthday present. Hey, if I wasn't going to fight, I needed something to do, right?

I tossed my rucksack onto my bed and plopped down onto Deidara's bed. My back throbbed. "Ow..." Deidara sat down next to me.

"Emika, are you really up to this, _hmmm_?" I summed myself up.

"Yes. I don't care if it hurts. As a ninja, I need to control the pain."

"But, as a girl, you need to take care of yourself, _hmmm_."

"That won't work on me. I'm no child, I'm 18! You may be older, but you can't stop me from following you out there."

"As **my** girl, you should protect yourself when I'm not there to protect you, _hmmm_."

I blushed in silence for a while.

"When haven't you been there to protect me?"

"What about Hidan, _hmmm_? You need to protect yourself from him, _hmmm_."

"And if I go with you, I'll be out of harm's way for as long as we're gone."

"...Well, as long as you don't go trying to enter the fight, I guess you can come, _hmmm_..."

"Thank you." I hugged him gently.

He grabbed my wrists and looked me in the eye.

"No interference **at all**, _hmmm_."

"Okay! Calm down..." I shook him off and turned away.

"I wasn't done, _hmmm_." He pulled my face around and kissed me. It was unexpected, but I wasn't complaining. He pushed me back onto the bed, our heads at the foot of the bed. I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. All too soon, I gave a start as I heard a shrill "Sempai!"


	5. Camping

Deidara and I both looked toward the door. I saw an upside-down Tobi standing in the doorway. Okay, now he was starting to get annoying.

"Tobi!" We both shouted. "What do YOU want, hmmm?" Deidara added.

"Tobi just thought that he'd be a good boy and tell Deidara-sempai and Emika-chan that we should leave!"

"YOU should leave, hmmm!" Deidara growled.

Tobi slammed the door as he ran away, screaming, "Sempai is scary!"

Deidara rolled off of me, sighing heavily.

"Still think he's 'cute', hmmm?" He practically spat. I chose not to answer for a while, so we stared up at the ceiling in silence.

"Yeah, not so much anymore..." I finally said.

"What did I tell you, hmmm? He's a pest, hmmm!"

"Isn't he right about leaving, though?"

"Unfortunately, hmmm."

"I guess we should get going then."

We got off the bed; got our bags, cloaks, and hats; and walked out of the room... right into the puddle of blood that stretched up and down the hall.

"But I guess we should clean this up first."

"Yeah, hmmm."

~~~~~~~~~~~~ Time Skiiiiiiiiip! (Useless)

Now we were finally leaving, after getting food from the kitchen once there was no sign of Hidan. I felt a small thrill at finally going on a mission. So what, I wouldn't get to fight, at least I got to be any considerable amount of distance away from the base, for the first time since I arrived... Okay, I was carried there... No matter.

We began our journey in awkward silence. Well at least Deidara and I thought it was awkward. Tobi seemed oblivious as usual; he just skipped on ahead. Eventually, Deidara stopped us in a clearing and made two large clay birds.

"Why'd Sempai only make two?" Tobi asked as he hopped onto one.

"I didn't want to waste chakra on three, hmmm." He winked at me before hopping onto the other one.

"Oh really?" I cocked an eyebrow as I glided up and landed next to him. This translated to: "complete and utter BS."

He smiled and put on his scope. We put our hats on to shield us from the early afternoon sun. With a flap of wings, we took off.

"WHEE!" Tobi squealed, his hands in the air like he was on a roller coaster.

Deidara shot me a look. He was pissed.

"At least he isn't talking about THAT." I gave his hand a squeeze.

We flew on in silence for quite a while.

We finally touched down in a relatively small clearing. Deidara made the birds explode in the usual fashion. Tobi began running around the clearing like a child, picking flowers.

"Wow, is he always like this on missions?"

"Yeah, or didn't you know it gets worse when he's outside, hmmm?"

"Kay.... So this is our campsite?"

"Yeah, hmmm."

"Let's set up camp then." I took my bedroll out of my pack and rolled it out on the ground. "Well I'm done, but we need a cooking fire... I'll be in charge of that."

"Why thank you, O Great Emika the Obvious, hmmm!" heshook his bedroll out to the left of mine. I rolled my eyes and walked away.

Firewood, firewood, collecting firewood... Many twigs, sticks, and occasional fallen branches later I had an armful of wood. I made my way back to the camp, where Deidara was rummaging through his pack and Tobi's flower-and-bunny print sleeping bag was laid out opposite from ours. Tobi was nowhere to be seen.

"I can't find the food in my bag, hmmm."

"Maybe if your bag was more organized you could find stuff." with that, I pulled the food I had out of my bag.

"And maybe if you got that fire started we could eat; I'm starving, hmmm."

"Okay, okay! Fine!" I piled the wood in the space between our and Tobi's bedrolls. I lit my hand and lit the smaller twigs. Soon the fire caught to therest of the wood. A quick handsign and the fire burned a normal orange.

"Mmmm, gyoza!" I skewered several dumplings on each of three (what else?) skewers after sitting down on the edge of my bedroll.

Deidara murmured in agreement and propped himself up on his arm and gazed up at the clouds, which were tinted pink from the sunset. I held the dumplings over the fire, turning them over every once in a while until they were done while singing "Ordinary Day" under my breath.

Just a Dei, just an ordinary Dei, just trying to get by (as a criminal);  
Just a boy, just an ordinary boy, but he was looking to the sky...

I faded away and checked on the dumplings; ready! I inched my way next to Deidara and popped a gyoza into his mouth as he started to say something. His hands flew up to his mouth.

"Too hot?!" I put a dumpling to my mouth to test it.

"Nope, hmmm!" He snatched the gyoza from my lips. I made a grab for it, but he closed his hand around it. A moment later he opened his now empty hand. He grinned.

"No fair!" I crossed my arms and made the most annoyed look I could muster without laughing.

"Here, hmmm." He had grabbed his skewer and now offered me one of his gyoza.

"No, no; I don't want yours." I took a bite out of one of mine.

"Well, then you have to share with me, hmmm!" He leaned toward me and took a bite off the other end. I blushed and bit my piece off, then chews and swallowed it with difficulty. I ate the rest of my dumplings in silence, not looking at him. Why'd he have to be so sexy all the time? I hated to admit it, but I loved it all, even the licking thing. He was so different from Micchi, but people were supposed to be different, weren't they? I finished eating and Deidara scooted his bedroll so it was touching mine. He lay back and I did as well.

"I'm actually glad you came along, hmmm."

"I'm glad you finally let me."

"Can we stay like this forever, hmmm?" he rolled onto his side and held me completely against him, making my wound throb. But i ignored the pain. I hid my burning face in his chest, inhaling his scent of earth and explosives. Why couldn't I stay in his arms forever? I closed my eyes and absorbed it all.

We stayed holding each other until the sunn had fully set.

That's when Tobi showed up again. After falling out of the branches of the tree nearest to us. At least he didn't land on us, but he did fling tugs and leaves onto us when he landed.

"Sempai! Tobi's hungry!"

Deidara stayed as calm as he could as he sat me up, then lifted Tobi off the ground by the neck. After pinning hin to a tree, Deidara turned his face to me. Tobi squirmed to get free.

"Can't I PLEASE blow him to bits, hmmm? Can I at least explode him a little, hmmm?"

"Ummm... no..."

"Fine, hmmm." He threw Tobi onto the ground hard, then spoke to him. "You're lucky this time, you irritating brat, hmmm."

He returned to my side and dropped down onto the bedroll and let out a heavy sigh. "Just once, would you let me beat the crp out of him, hmmm." He gave me a flash of wide, pleading blue eyes.

"No, but I can see why you'd want to..." He plucked leaves out of my hair as I spoke. "And don't give me that look... It's so cute I might explode, myself..." I blushed and pulled my knees to my face.

"We can't have that, now can we, hmmm?" He smiled and lifted my chin and swiped my bangs away from my eyes. The touch made my face burn even more.

"Tobi's right there..." I whisper-hissed. And he was, just sitting on his sleeping bag and looking over the fire at us.

"Oh, I know, hmmm." He was showing off?! He lifted me up and put me on his lap, arms around me possessively. I must've been giving off steam now. Tobi was still resolutely staring in our direction.

"Can Tobi have that?" He pointed slightly to my right. The last skewerful of gyoza was on top of the food container.

"Sure, moron, hmmm." He leaned us over and grabbed the skewer, throwing it at Tobi as if it was a kunai. Tobi caught it inches from his face.

"Now watch; try to see his face, hmmm." He whispered right into my ear. His face showed genuine anticipation. We both stared Tobi down, but he lay down on his stomach facing away from us as he ate, kicking his legs back and forth.

"Well that was anticlimactic... And he wasn't looking at us, so I'll get off now..." His arms held me back.

"You're not getting away that easily, hmmm."

"But I get first watch, since you MEN are fighting, right?"

"Yeah, so, hmmm?"

"So how can I be a lookout if we're like this and you lie down to sleep?"

"I could lean against that tree to sleep, hmmm."

"I still don't think that'll work."

"Do you really hate this that much, hmmm?"

"No, I love it, but that's the problem; don't you see? You're too comfortable!"

A gagging sound came from Tobi's direction. "Tobi choked on his food but he is okay!" We ignored him as he finished eating and went to sleep.

"Fine, if you won't sit on my lap, I'll have to sleep on yours, hmmm."

"W-what?!" If my face was hot before, it was on fire now. Deidara turned and set me down behind him.

"Sit on your feet, hmmm." I did; I don't know what made me listen. He lay back, rested his beautiful blond head on my knees, and looked up at me.

"Not so bad, hmmm?"

"Not bad at all." I leaned down and kissed him on the cheek. His face became a light pink. "Good night, Dei-Dei-kun."

"Good night, Emi-kyan." He closed his eyes and a smile curved his lips. I kissed them one last time before he fell asleep.


	6. NO!

**This chapter makes me sad... = Dei-Dei-kun!!!! Yeah... :[**

**UGH! Sasuke needs to die!**

About three hours later, Deidara woke up. He had that internal clock skill that I could never get a handle on. He sat up and I unfolded my legs. They had fallen asleep, but I wasn't going to complain.

"Okay, back in here, hmmm." He wrapped me in his arms and set me on his lap once again. I curled up into him as we both said goodnight once more.

Another three hours later, I just barely registered being laid down; hearing footsteps, a kick, and a yelp from Tobi; and Deidara laying down close beside me.

-

It got chillier as time passed and Deidara and I snuggled closer, as close as we could get with clothes on.

Deidara woke up furious not long after. Reason: Tobi was hugging me from behind for warmth.

"Get off her now, hmmm!" He bristled with anger.

"But Tobi was cold and Emika's so warm and soft!"

"It's cold because you let the fire go out, hmmm! You're so useless, hmmm!" He glared at Tobi, murderous. "Now GET OFF, HMMM!!!" He tried to pry me away from Tobi without hurting me, but Tobi held fast.

"Tobi, would you please let go of me?"

"But…but…why?"

"I really don't want to do this…" And I elbowed him in the stomach.

While Tobi was doubled over, I took my chance to scramble away from him. Deidara gaped at me in complete shock.

"Sorry, Tobi…" Deidara continued staring. "What?"

"You… hurt Tobi, hmmm…" He looked at me as if I was a different person. His expression became hopeful next. "Does that mean I can hurt him now, too, hmmm?"

"No." His face fell and I turned back to Tobi. "You okay, Tobi? I didn't hurt you that bad, I hope…" I put my hand on his shoulder as he began to sit up.

"Not badly at all, I just didn't expect that from you, Emika. I thought you'd let me get away with that." He said this in a deep, serious voice. I gave a start, drawing back my hand.

"Tobi, just now, did you use first and second person? And your voice…?" Deidara looked as bewildered as I felt.

"Oops, too early to spoil my secret, at least for now. Sweet dreams to both of you." Before I could ask more questions about this "secret" I saw a Sharingan eye behind his mask and blacked out.

Deidara and I woke up in warm sunlight, our legs intertwined and our arms around each other.

"Why's the sun so bright, hmmm?" He squinted up at the sky. "And why the hell is it so high already?"

We detangled ourselves from each other and saw Tobi all packed up, sitting on a tree branch and swinging his legs underneath him.

"Well Tobi just thought he'd let Sempai and Emika-chan sleep some more because they looked so cute!"

"That's no excuse for letting us wake up over two hours late, you idiot, hmmm!" A look of confusion passed across his face. "Why didn't I wake up until now, anyway, hmmm?" He switched back to being angry. "You should've woken us up, hmmm!"

"Tobi is sorry!" He dropped out of the tree and waited as we packed our few things, Deidara furiously, I nervously.

Now that it was actually time for finding Sasuke, I didn't want to leave. I was starting to get a little scared. It must've shown on my face because Deidara gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze a whispered in my ear, "I made a promise, didn't I, hmmm?" before forming two clay birds once again.

We got on, Tobi on one; Deidara, the bags, and I on the other. We took off and I looked at Deidara's face intently.

"What, hmmm?" He noticed me watching.

"Can I draw you?" I was already pulling out my sketchbook.

"Of course, hmmm." He made his triple tongue stuck out pose and I hit him in the head with the book.

"Just act natural, no posing!" He laughed, facing forward again, and I began to draw. And then I erased it and tried again. And again. I erased a hole in the paper. I ripped it out and crumpled it, stuffing it in my bag. This repeated a few times as we flew on, and every time I crumpled another sheet, I got more frustrated. Deidara was trying so hard not to laugh.

"It doesn't have to be perfect, hmmm."

"Yes it does!" I crumpled another one and gave up, stuffing the paper ball and the sketchbook in my bag.

"Emika, it takes practice to be very good at something, hmmm."

"And look at all the practice I've gotten already!" I shook the bag at him and glared at it as I set it on my lap.

"You have such a fiery temper, hmmm."

"Ha ha, very punny."

"I know you're laughing on the inside, hmmm…" He leaned toward me, nudging my shoulder.

"Yeah…" I had to crack a small smile. "I actually did think it was funny…"

"You'll get better, I promise, hmmm." I raised an eyebrow in skepticism. "C'mon, don't you believe me, hmmm?"

"Sure…" Butterflies were fluttering in my stomach now that I didn't have a distraction. I leaned on Deidara and sighed as he put his arm around me. "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for me to come on a mission with you; I can't take it… Ugh, I suck at being a ninja… My stupid emotions are always getting in the way."

"You wouldn't be you without your emotions though, hmmm. You fight better when you're angry, and I can't help but notice that you find it hard to fight when you're sad or afraid, hmmm. Not the best qualities for a ninja, but they're qualities that make up part of who you are, hmmm." He turned my face to his and looked straight into my eyes. "You wouldn't be the Emika I love, hmmm." He leaned in to kiss me, then stopped short, staring blankly though me for a second. He pulled back and muttered, "Crp, hmmm." He pushed his hair back from his face and let it fall. "I just sensed Sasuke, hmmm. He's still a way off, but I don't want you within range of my blasts, so this is your stop, hmmm…"

I gathered up the three bags and swung my legs over the side of the bird as it slowed down. "You be careful, or else." I hovered next to the bird for a second to blow him a kiss before I dropped down among the treetops."Kick Sasuke's butt back to Uchihaland!" I could've sworn Tobi snickered when I said that.

"Later, Emi-kyan, hmmm!" They flew on and my vision was obstructed by the treetops. I flew on behind and below them, keeping out of sight. I wanted to get close enough that I could see some of the action.

I saw them fly down among the trees and I stopped following. Almost immediately after, Deidara flew out on his bird with Tobi's now riderless bird shadowing him. They flew extremely high, hiding in the sun in wait. I flew up higher, clear of the treetops. I hoped he couldn't see that I had followed. I could see that there was an enormous clearing a good distance away. I saw a lone figure walking slowly along the border between trees and wasteland. I moved just close enough to recognize that it was Sasuke, but not close enough to understand him when he spoke in the direction of the trees. Tobi emerged from between the trees and ran backwards after Sasuke stared him down.

Deidara flew straight down from his spot in the sky with Tobi's bird in tow. And explosion engulfed Sasuke, and I gave an inward cheer, but he emerged unharmed from the coils of the giant snake he had summoned. Deidara stood with Tobi, both facing Sasuke, who looked at them from across the crater. Suddenly Sasuke ran at Deidara, his katana at the ready. Deidara leapt out of the way and the blade sliced through Tobi instead. I gasped as he fell facedown. Deidara observed this from the tree branch he had landed on as Sasuke spoke again. Tobi slowly picked himself up, unharmed. There was more dialogue and Deidara reached his hands into his clay pouches, throwing the resulting double handful of C1 spiders at Sasuke. Tobi ran away frantically as Sasuke sent Chidori needles though most of the bombs. Tobi shouted at Deidara as Sasuke appeared behind him, Deidara activating an explosion that consumed them both. No!

I clapped my hands to my mouth. Stupid Dei- he shot out from the cloud of smoke, skidding to a stop by Tobi. I relaxed a little, but then Sasuke was still alive as well. Crp.

A puff of smoke, and the huge C2 dragon appeared. Deidara jumped up, landing on its head. The tip of its tail retracted and hundreds of clay spheres spilled from its mouth. Sasuke ran at my partners and a smaller dragon shot out from C's mouth. It exploded in front of Sasuke, blinding him temporarily and flinging him backwards. Tobi burrowed underground with the spheres -no, landmines- to set them in place. Deidara was in the air on C2 now.

Sasuke tried to attack with the extension of his katana, but Deidara flew out of his range, the dragon's tail retracting again and producing the largest explosion yet. Sasuke dodged it to the side, setting off a land mine. The smoke from the explosion cleared, revealing that Sasuke had had used the second state of his curse mark to dodge the blast. Tobi popped out of the ground, waved at Deidara, then ran back among the trees, watching from the sidelines like me. C2 released yet another bomb, and when the smoke cleared, Sasuke's left wing was destroyed and his katana was stuck in the ground meters out of his reach.

He threw two large shuriken at Deidara, which he dodged, sending another huge bomb at Sasuke. Sasuke dodged sideways, landed on the hilt of his sword and used it as a platform to propel himself upward. His Chidori extension cut the tail from the rest of the body, causing the dragon to become unstable. The two shuriken Sasuke had thrown before pinned Deidara's arms to the dragon as it began to plummet to the ground, setting off all the landmines.

He better not have died on us, that idiot! My eyes were welling up as Tobi shouted what was unmistakably "Sempai!!!" Out of the cloud came Deidara on a clay bird, his cloak gone. He stuffed a huge wad of clay in his mouth, swallowed it, and yelled at Tobi, who disappeared into the forest. Deidara leaned forward and threw up the clay, which formed a giant version of him. So this was C4, the Karura! Deidara, still atop the clay bird, flew high above the surface of the earth, far away from where I floated.

"Emika-chan!" Tobi had appeared below me while I watched. "Tobi and Emika-chan should get out of this area!" I dropped to the ground and we ran several hundred meters away from the battleground.

"Are we out of range now?" I floated up to peer over the treetops again. The giant Deidara swelled and dissipated into thin air. I'd like to see Sasuke get out of that alive! I drifted back to the ground by Tobi. "It should be over now…" Good job, Dei! We stood and waited for Deidara to show up, but no sign of him for several minutes and I was concerned.

"What's keeping him?" I stared in the direction of the battle. The ground was rocked by the mother of all explosions and its blinding light rushed toward us. Tobi grabbed my arm and we vanished, reappearing by the base. Off in the distance, I could see a kind of star-shaped cloud towering from the ground. It was much larger than any of Deidara's typical explosions, kilometers larger by the look of it. Realization hit me like a bucket of ice water.

"Tobi, did he self-destruct? Even after he promised?" Now it felt like boiling water hit me. I couldn't handle the information and feelings running through me. My vision grew patched with spots of light and darkness and I collapsed.

He broke his promise.


End file.
